Kinnaird

Kinnaird is a territorial name from the district of Gowrie in Perthshire. William the Lion conferred the barony of Kinnaird on Radulphus called Rufus, by a royal charter of 1170. Richard de Kinnaird, the great-grandson of Rufus, was one of the Scottish barons who swore fealty to Edward I of England and appears on the Ragman Roll of 1296. Sir George Kinnaird of Inchture was loyal to the Crown throughout the civil war and was knighted by Charles II in 1661. In 1682 he was raised to the peerage as Lord Kinnaird of Inchture. Patrick, the third Lord, opposed the union of the Parliaments; he died in March 1715. The fifth Lord, Charles, died childless though not before a court case was brought to prove that the supposed birth of twins to Lady Kinnaird had never taken place. Lord and Lady Kinnaird refused to answer any questions, and the affair was terminated by Lord Kinnaird’s declaring the twins dead. He was succeeded by a great-grandson of Sir George. Another George, the seventh Lord Kinnaird, was one of the sixteen Scots representative peers in the House of Lords. His brother, Douglas, an eminent banker, was a friend of the poets Sheridan and Byron, and he also helped to manage the Drury Lane Theatre in London. The eighth Lord Kinnaird, born in 1780, was first a Member of Parliament and later a representative peer of Scotland. He built Rossie Priory, the family mansion in the Carse of Gowrie. In 1831 the ninth Lord, George Kinnaird, was created Baron Rossie of Rossie in the peerage of the United Kingdom. He was Master of Buckhounds to the Queen and Lord Lieutenant of Perthshire. In 1860 he was created Baron Kinnaird of Rossie. His brother, who was MP for Perth, succeeded him in the family honours. The family still live on the lands they have held for over six centuries.